Indiana Automotive Safety Program, IN

Indiana Automotive Safety Program, IN

Indiana Automotive Safety Program Site Visit Summary B - 52

Site Visit Summary

Inspection Station Location Name: Indiana Automotive Safety Program's

Statewide Inspection Station Network

Street Address: Riley Hospital for Children - Indiana University School of Medicine 575 West Drive, Room 004

City, State: Indianapolis, IN 46202 Phone: 317-274-2977

Email Contact: Justin Sims [email protected] Web site: www.preventinjury.org

Date Visited: July 23, 24 2002 Observation conducted by: Janet Dewey-Kollen and Julie K. Prom

Type of Agency/Organization: University, state agency contractor

Type of service: Fixed Site Mobile Both

Inspections Completed per Month: 350-375 Statewide (53 inspection stations)

Annual Budget:

$5001 – 15,000 $15,001 – 25,000 $25,001 – 50,000 $50,001 – 75,000 Over $75,000

Geographical Setting: Urban Suburban Rural

Program Setting: The Automotive Safety Program (ASP) at Riley Hospital for Children, Indiana University School of Medicine provides support and coordination for 53 child safety seat inspection stations throughout the State of Indiana. The inspection stations are functioning under a variety of lead organizations including hospitals, fire departments, police departments, and health departments.

Populations Served: All populations are served across the state. Some stations have special outreach programs targeting low income, urban, African American, and Hispanic populations.


OPERATIONAL DETAILS: Sites were phased in over a three-year period. There are currently 53 funded inspection station sites. Each site received a mini-grant each grant year they were eligible. Sites 1-23 received funding each of the three years. Sites 24-44 received funding for two years, and the remaining sites only received funding for one year. The mini- grants are intended as seed money and to help offset any costs incurred by the site to function. This includes advertising or printing costs, and miscellaneous equipment or personnel costs. After the grant expires each site is encouraged to seek funding from local sources to continue functioning.

Each organization wanting to become an inspection station is required to complete an application/agreement and submit monthly activity reports to the ASP. Monthly activity varies from site to site. The heavily populated counties, such as Allen County in Northeast Indiana, may average 80-100 appointments a month. This county received three mini-grants, but actually has seven separate locations for appointments. Lutheran Children’s Hospital in Ft. Wayne has 30 certified CPS technicians on staff for their inspection station. The Elkhart County SAFE KIDS Coalition in North Central Indiana operates three satellite locations throughout the county to better serve the residents. Counties in the southern part of the state, where the population is less heavily concentrated, typically schedule between 6-15 appointments per month. The Marion County Health Department's station in urban Indianapolis averages 12-15 inspections per month.

Families can locate an inspection station in their area by accessing the ASP web site or calling the statewide toll free hotline.

Service Delivery Schedules: Individual sites are required to provide a minimum of 10 hours per month for inspections. Schedules are set by the individual sites, taking into consideration the needs of the target audience. The sites' scheduling is as varied as the agencies that sponsor them. There are fixed and mobile sites. Nearly all the sites require an appointment; some do accept walk-ins.

Tools and equipment used for inspections: Individual sites equip their inspection stations with the typical tools and supplies including up-to-date recall lists, CSS Manufacturer's Instructions, CSS registration forms, locking clips, belt-shortening clips, foam noodles, slip guard material, vinyl gloves, baby wipes, first aid kit, tether manuals, special needs information, and a banner or sign.

Data Collection: All sites are required to use the ASP Car Seat Check Up Form for each inspection. If a safety seat is replaced with one of the program seats, an ASP Distribution Site Liability Release and Car Seat Check List form must be completed. Copies of all forms and a completed ASP Permanent Fitting Station Report Form detailing the total number of inspections, number of seats distributed, and types of misuses observed must be submitted to ASP every month. Additionally, at the end of a grant year individual sites must submit an ASP Financial Accountability Form detailing how the grant monies were spent.

Inspection process: All sites perform their inspections in the same general fashion. A typical inspection begins with the CPS Technician greeting the family and explaining the inspection process. The parent/caregiver is asked to complete a form requesting information about the child (children) whose seat(s) is to be inspected. A liability waiver is also included in the form. Inspectors strongly emphasize that children must be present to determine whether the child (children) is in an age and size appropriate safety seat, and whether the child is buckled into the seat correctly. However, most sites still do inspections when a child is not present.


The inspector observes how the seat is installed upon arrival and makes recommendations as needed. Participants receive hands on instructions and are encouraged to install the seat themselves after demonstration. Inspectors encourage parents to come back to have the safety seat installations in other family vehicles inspected as well. Inspectors discuss with families future safety restraint needs for the child and discuss restraint use for other children in the family. Inspectors involve children as age appropriate mainly by reinforcing safety restraint use and by asking older kids to adjust buckles and straps as necessary. Inspectors distribute parent education materials, complete seat registration cards, and distribute promotional material as appropriate.

Replacement Seat Policies: All sites receive 150 safety seats over the three-year grant period. Individual sites must provide replacement seats when deemed appropriate. The replacement seats provided by ASP may not be used to provide seats for special events or advertised as free give-away seats. Seats deemed appropriate for replacement are seats that are older than 6 years, are the wrong size/type for the child, have been in a crash, were purchased at a secondhand store or garage sale, or have gross safety recall issues. ASP encourages the sites to only replace a safety seat when the child is present, unless other extenuating circumstances are known.

Safety seats are shipped directly to the individual sites from the manufacturers in increments chosen by the site.

The total number of replacement seats provided by the network of inspection stations averages 150 per month. No breakdown by seat type was available.

Liability Insurance: ASP's program is covered under the university's general liability policy. Individual stations are encouraged to address this issue and seek legal advice. ASP does provide the sites with available information as to the historical lack of actual cases, judgments and/or settlements in the United States relative to child safety seat installation matters.


STAFFING ASP employs one part-time (30 hours/week) staff person to coordinate its statewide inspection station network. The part-time position was 15-20 hours per week in year 1 and year 2 of the program and increased to 30 hours per week in year 3.

Administrator Paid Position? Yes No Employee

# at this site:

Title : Project Manager

Training Required: skills, management and budgeting skills, Current AAA/NHTSA CPS Technician Instructor certification.

Time : CPS Program requires 100% of 30-hour week.

Duties: Oversees the inspection station network. Helps develop, establish, and maintain the child safety seat permanent fitting stations across the state of Indiana

1

Public Relations

ASP requires that individual sites use only AAA-certified CPS Technicians or Technician Instructors to perform the actual inspection and provide instructions to the participant.

Staff Training and Continuing Education: Regional CPS trainings are conducted throughout the year. These include the NHTSA Standardized CPS course and a CPS refresher course based on the current changes to the NHTSA curriculum and new CPS products and issues. All sites are required to send their inspectors to the annual CPS refresher course provided by ASP

To ensure accurate information is being disseminated and inspection stations are complying with the requirements, the project manager conducts at least one site visit.

Updates, recalls, and other emerging issues are disseminated via emails, topic specific mailings and a quarterly newsletter to all sites.


PROMOTIONAL AND OUTREACH ACTIVITY In order to create greater awareness of the inspection stations to the general public a Public Service Announcement campaign was created for statewide dissemination. Phillips Communication Services was contracted to assist with the production. A partnership was formed with WTHR Channel 13 for the PSA production. A 30-second television spot, a 15- and 30-second radio spot and a 2-sided brochure were created. The television spot runs locally on WTHR Channel 13 on a fairly continuous basis. When it airs, sites notice an increase in requests for appointments.

ASP maintains a statewide toll-free hotline for people to call with CPS questions and to locate an inspection station in their area. This phone number is included on all promotional materials ASP produces and the individual sites include it in their materials. The number is also included in the TV and radio spots. All sites are listed on the ASP web site.

Individual sites have used a variety of means to advertise their services to the public. Each site was given a sample press release to use with any local print publications. Local television news stations have interviewed a handful of sites. Some of the more creative advertising efforts include: Seymour State Police and Vigo County SAFE KIDS each had a billboard, Peru Police Department has placed a graphic on the back of every squad car, Tipton Hospital created a brochure that is provided to every family and Allen County SAFE KIDS/AMR sends letters to each new family identified through the county birth records.

Targeted Promotional and Outreach Activity: In May of 2002 a bi-lingual technician candidate class was held to assist in the establishment of inspection stations that can serve the growing Spanish speaking population. Another class is planned for November 2002. All of the inspection station forms are now translated into Spanish.


FUNDING AND BUDGET ASP, through the Indiana Governor's Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving, has utilized monies from NHTSA 157, 2003B, and 402 funds to establish and maintain a statewide network of inspection stations. The ASP has allocated $672,250 to permanent fitting stations since 1999.

In-Kind Services and Materials: ASP provides in-kind administrative support that is included in indirect costs. Individual sites provide in-kind services to operate their stations and receive in-kind services through local partnerships including: office space, storage, supplies, public relations support, public works signage, administrative oversight and personnel support, transportation services, classroom space, and safety seats.

Funding: ASP's statewide inspection station network is funded by a grant through the Governor’s Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving, Indiana’s highway traffic safety office. The grant was a three-year award intended to establish at least fifty Permanent Fitting Station (PFS) sites across Indiana. The grant funding source is NHTSA monies as follows: 2003B: $198,548 402: $160,302 157: $313,400 Total: $672,250

Indiana ASP Budget Overview

Item 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2002 Total Personnel $11,419 $11,876 $29,283 $52,578 Public Service Announcement $20,000 0 0 $20,000 Mini-grants $57,500 $93,000 $78,500 $229,000 Car seats $132,307 $136,306 $39,591 $308,204 Printing 0 $4,000 0 $4,000 Indirect Costs (These funds provide overhead expenses as required by Indiana University. It helps pay rent, accounting, and payroll expenses.)

$22,123 $24,536 $11,809 $58,468

Total $243,349 $269,718 $159,183 $672,250

The mini-grants to the individual sites were distributed in the following manner:

Year One: March 1, 2000 - February 28, 2001 $2500

Year Two: March 1, 2001 - February 28, 2002 $1500

Year Three: March 1, 2002 - February 28, 2003 $1000


DEVELOPMENT OF THE INSPECTION STATION ASP has been funded by the Governor’s Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving since 1981 to conduct child passenger safety education and research in Indiana. Beginning in 1992, ASP provided inspections through a mobile site model assisting communities across the state to conduct "safety seat clinics." As the clinics became more popular, they also became more difficult to manage. ASP staff believed that the clinic model did not provide a means for quality control, was not a good learning environment for the family, sometimes required families to wait a long time in line, put stress on staff's time, and was difficult to find sponsors for. ASP began taking appointments in 1994 and encouraged other community groups to do the same.

In 2000, the ASP was awarded monies by the Governor's Council using National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 2003B and 157 funds to establish and maintain a network of child safety seat fitting stations across the state of Indiana.

The statewide network of inspection stations provides continuity and quality assurance for the State of Indiana. It is an effective use of resources, especially the coordinated promotional campaign.

ASP staff cited the following challenges and solutions during the initial development and setting up of this inspection station network.

Challenge Solution

Having to integrate mini-grant awards and safety seat purchases within Indiana University (IU) system

• Researched IU requirements, carefully followed requirements, looked for alternative solutions when necessary

Integrating grant funds into some city systems, meeting the budget requirements

• Carefully followed city procedures and fiscal documentation requirements for acceptance of the grant funds.

• Some sites found a non-profit organization to be the fiscal agent.

Some difficulty was experienced early in the project with obtaining safety seats. Car seat orders were not completed in a timely manner. The sites were unable to begin functioning as inspection stations immediately upon obtaining approval. Some sites were not able to begin accepting appointments until March or early April.

• Looked for options to meet safety seat demand

• Waived some of the requirements for grant during the months seats were not available


Administrative Challenges and Solutions ASP staff cited the following challenges and solutions involved in the on-going operation of this program.

Challenge Solution Obtaining the required monthly reports from the individual sites became problematic

• Each site received guidelines concerning late reports.

• Guidelines include: A site in arrears of monthly reports greater than three months will be placed on probationary status. A site in arrears greater than five months will automatically have their inspection station status and grant funding terminated. A site that is terminated will be required to return any unaccounted safety seats and previously awarded grant funds.

• Currently there are 3 sites on probationary status

Maintaining certification of technicians at sites • ASP requires site staff to attend its annual CPS Refresher course; this helps with keeping technicians current and provides an avenue for the “hands-on” requirements to be completed.

• ASP communicates regularly with the sites to determine training needs.

• Regional trainings are offered annually. Ensuring individual sites' top administrators remain supportive of the program

• Continually recognize sites for good work • Created an Inspection Station award category

for the State of Indiana's annual Injury Prevention Luncheon and Awards Ceremony.

Project Manager was having difficulty completing site visits and meeting the needs of the individual sites because of time constraints

• Project Manager position increased to 30 hours per week

State of Indiana initiated an out-of-state travel freeze; because the funding comes from the state, ASP staff and sites couldn't attend any conferences, etc.

• ASP maintained contact with other programs and national organizations, and relied on proceedings from conferences when available to stay up-to-date

• Provided updates through refresher courses, email, and newsletter


Significant Changes Made to the Inspection Station Since It Began: After the first year of operation, ASP held several regional "feedback" meetings with individual sites and incorporated some of the suggestions from the sites into the policies and procedures of the project. Some changes included more clear and concise grant requirements, disciplinary actions spelled out, and making reporting forms more user friendly. Recently, ASP has created a new inspection form that can be scanned.

Significant Changes to the Inspection Station Under Consideration or Imminent: Administrative - Revising grant criteria and data collection methods. Researching and requesting feedback on whether to continue to provide safety seats and grant dollars or just provide grant dollars and let individual sites purchase their own seats. Working on an evaluation process and then developing a response to the results. Will be changing grant award structure, awards will vary--depending on population and site activity.

Funding - Major funding will be expiring, looking to use more NHTSA 402 dollars and possibly secure more private/public grants.

Circumstances That Would Cause the Inspection Station to Terminate: Loss of funding

PROGRAM EVALUATION

The ASP program is evaluated in two ways: self evaluation as to the quantity and quality of inspections, number of seats replaced, and number/type of misuses observed and by the Indiana Governor's Council on Impaired and Dangerous Driving as to whether the program has accomplished the goals established in their grant. Evaluation activities include review of inspection forms and site monthly report forms, and observation of staff during inspections (site visits).


ADDITIONAL COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM SITE FOR OTHERS

What are the most FREQUENT reasons people give you for using your service? Concerned about doing it right, know it's wrong but not why, new parents, location is convenient.

Have you identified reasons why more people in your target DO NOT utilize your service? Hours not convenient, not aware of service or need, some populations fear police-based inspection stations.

If you had the chance to start over again, is there anything you would do differently? If yes, explain: Set up more clear, concise guidelines at the beginning

What would you recommend to other agencies starting an inspection station network as the most important things to do? Don't set policies you can't enforce. Secure HSO commitment and support. Hire a full-time coordinator (provides common thread for individual sites and consistent, timely support). Identify key local people to build partnerships. Think through seat distribution and storage issues. Know the demographics and the resources of the communities. Identify the passionate persons in the community with good CPS and Public Relation skills to be the community champions.

What would you recommend to other organizations starting an inspection station network as the most important things to avoid? Advertising free seats.

CHILD SAFETY SEAT MISUSE TRENDS The 53 ASP-funded sites reported checking 4,283 child safety seats from January 2001-January 2002. In addition, 1,853 child safety seats were distributed through the permanent fitting stations. The sites reported an overall misuse rate of 88%, which mirrors national and local trends. Over 60% of the car seats checked moved more than 1 inch, and nearly 50% of the car seats had loose harnesses.


Indiana Automotive Safety Program Sample Materials


Indiana Counties with Permanent Fitting Stations














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Indiana Automotive Safety Program, IN